1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to user notifications.
2. Description of the Related Art
A user of a networked or connected device may receive audio and/or video notifications or alerting messages (“alerts”) about events relating to that device or to other networked devices.
Here, the term “networked device” or “connected device” implies that the device is connectable, for example by an electrical cable, by an optical connection, wirelessly or by combinations of these, to at least one other device. In many instances such a connection may be via an internet connection or via a unidirectional broadcast connection from, for example, a content provider to the device, via a short range wireless connection (for example, a Bluetooth® connection, a wireless network (“WiFi”) connection or any other appropriate wireless protocol connection) with a portable device such as a mobile telephone, or via a combination of these. The device could be, for example, a television or radio receiver, a computer terminal, a mobile telephone or personal digital assistant or the like.
Considering a television receiver as an example of such a networked device, it is known for television receivers to be connectable to the internet and to interact with internet-based services such as email services, video playback services, instant messaging services and the like.
There are many ways in which user notifications may arise in systems like this. For example, a user's television receiver may be running an internet based email application. The email application runs as a background task and so it is normally invisible to the user. However, when an email message arrives for the user, the email application may place a small temporary notification within the displayed image. The user may choose whether or not to interact with that notification in order to open the email message and launch the full screen email application. Another example relates to system notifications. Some television receivers or other devices may display status notifications such as “you have lost your internet connection”.
It is known to provide the user with the facility to suppress such notifications. In this case, the notifications may be buffered, so that when the user allows notifications once again, the user may be provided with access to notifications received during the suppression period.